Radar Altimeters are used by aircraft for determining the aircraft's distance to the ground. The formation of ice or fluids on radar altimeter antennas results in degradations of the radar pattern shape which can cause the radar altimeter to provide hazardous misleading information to the aircraft's flight crew and/or flight computer.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for systems and methods that provide a dynamic means to monitor performance of radar altimeter antennas.